Containers such as drinking cups are commonly used for holding and consuming beverages and other products. Fast food restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores, and other providers distribute millions of drinking cups every day. These drinking cups are usually disposed of after a single use.
One type of known disposable drinking cup is a conventional plastic foam cup, such as a beaded polystyrene foam cup. One such conventional plastic foam cup is generally illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and indicated by numeral 10. This plastic foam cup 10 includes a resilient frustoconical body 12. The body 12 is open at a first or top end 14 and closed at a second or bottom end 16. The top end has a greater diameter than the bottom end. The frustoconical body is configured to facilitate stacking a plurality of these cups together for transportation and dispensing purposes. The body 12 includes an angled side wall 18 that extends from the top end 14 to the bottom end 16. More specifically, when the cup is positioned in an upright position, the side wall 18 is angled offset from a vertical plane at a suitable angle (such as an angle in the range of two degrees to fifteen degrees). The side wall 18 has an inner face or surface 20 and an outer face or surface 22. This type of cup often includes an interior shelf 23 which facilitates stacking of the cups. This type of cup also often includes a side wall having an outwardly formed or extending lip 24. The outwardly formed lip is suitably shaped such that an annular mounting portion of a lid (not shown) can be readily attached to the formed lip to secure the lid to the top of the cup. The outwardly formed lip is also sometimes utilized to hold the cup in place prior to the cup being dispensed from a conventional cup dispenser.
One method of forming such conventional plastic foam cups includes adding expanded polystyrene beads (which were previously modified with a suitable foaming agent) into a mold or cavity. Steam is injected into the mold or cavity which causes the polystyrene beads to expand to form the cup. The formed cup is subsequently removed from the mold or cavity. It should be appreciated that other suitable methods of forming such cups, including injection molding techniques, may be employed.
These conventional plastic foam cups have outstanding heat-insulating properties which make them particularly useful for serving hot beverages such as coffee, hot tea, soups, and hot chocolate. These cups enable a person to hold the cup without burning themselves and also tend to keep the beverage hot. These cups also have outstanding cold-insulating properties which make them particularly useful for serving cold food or beverages such as milk shakes. These cups tend to keep the food or beverage cold for extended periods of time. These cups are also fairly leak resistant. However, the outer surfaces of conventional plastic foam cups do not provide the tactile feel of paper-based cups nor do such cups readily facilitate printing of high-quality graphics on their outer surface.
Other known disposable drinking cups for hot and cold beverages are formed from paper. Paper cups are typically fabricated from a paper body which is bonded to a bottom paper panel having an upper surface and a bottom surface, wherein the joined portions of the bottom panel and body form a seal. Paper-based cups typically include an inner lining which covers the inner surface of the body and the upper surface of the bottom panel. This inner lining prevents penetration of liquid into the paper during use. These conventional paper cups have an outer surface which provides a comfortable tactile feel, but have very poor heat-insulating qualities and are more prone to leaking along the seam where the two members are joined. Paper cups are often too hot to handle for a period of time after being filled with a hot beverage. Beverage servers and consumers commonly nest two or more paper-based cups together or add an insulating sleeve to provide insulation for hot drinks. This is obviously undesirable at least because it increases the number of cups or sleeves used, adds additional costs, and increases environmental waste.
To solve these problems, paper wrapped plastic foam cups have been developed and commercialized.
One known method of applying paper to a plastic foam cup is to spot glue portions of the inner face of a stationary piece of paper with a suitable adhesive and then to bring a cup in contact with the stationary paper to attach the paper to the cup. This results in substantial portions of the paper not including adhesive. Due to the inconsistent and incomplete placement of the adhesive on the paper, wrinkles are often formed when the paper is applied to or otherwise wrapped around the cup. Such wrinkles are undesirable for a manufacturer and aesthetically displeasing to consumers.
Another known method includes applying a film to a plastic foam cup and heat shrinking the film on the cup when the cup is formed. Such an “in-mold” method includes integrating the film with the material of the cup during the cup manufacturing process. Such integration includes stretching the film around the material which will form the cup and subsequently heating the material and film to shrink the film to adhere to the material. While this cup includes the desired insulation properties of a plastic foam cup, this method is relatively expensive.
Other known machines, systems and methods for affixing one or more labels to beverage containers are known. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,709,800; 4,729,81; 4,731,147; 4,743,469; 4,911,285; 4,944,825; 4,944,830; 4,950,350; 4,973,374; 4,981,547; 4,994,135; 5,004,518; 5,017,261; 5,021,116; 5,037,499; 5,062,917; 5,062,918; 5,078,826; 5,082,520; 5,087,317; 5,110,402; 5,120,392; 5,121,827; 5,129,984; 5,160,570; 5,167,755; 5,174,851; 5,185,053; 5,188,696; 5,201,984; 5,217,538; 5,227,005; 5,271,783; 5,569,353; 5,713,403; 5,882,474; and 6,050,319 describe various known machines, systems and components for applying one or more labels to beverage containers. These machines, systems and methods do not provide solutions for the above mentioned problems.
One known apparatus and method which solves the above described problems has been successfully and widely commercially employed. This apparatus and method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,536,767; U.S. Pat. No. 7,552,841; U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2006/0283855; U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2006/0281618; U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2007/0006962; U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2007/0107187. These patents and patent applications are owned by a subsidiary of the assignee of the present application. There are certain drawbacks with this apparatus and method. For example, this apparatus and method employs supply rolls or carriers which supply the reinforcing members for the cups. These supply rolls must be changed on a regular basis during use. This adds to the cost of production. Additionally, after use, the backing or release liner of each supply roll must be discarded. The use of the supply roll also requires regular accurate adjustments to any slack in the liner which can be a potential area for problems and breakdowns. The use of the supply roll may also require the use of multiple alternating reinforcer dispensers to keep the apparatus running at full capacity (i.e., a single reinforcer dispenser would have downtime every time the supply roll is changed). This apparatus also employs pressure sensitive adhesive which is typically more expensive to use or apply than other types of adhesive. Accordingly, even though this apparatus and method solves the above problems, there is still a need to make such disposable drinking cups (with the insulation properties of a plastic foam cup and the tactile feel and high quality graphic printing properties of a paper-based cup) more efficiently, more cost effectively, and with less environmental waste. The apparatus and methods disclosed herein provide improvements to one or more of the apparatus and methods disclosed in such patents and published applications.